Fic recs August 24th · 1:47am Aug 25th, 2013
Another big one! I felt like sitting down and reading tonight. :D
H: 1 R: 4 C: 2 V: 2 N: 0
A Sun Without a Moon by Mourning Zephyr
Reading by Crafty Arts
Genre: Characters Piece
Celestia says something demeaning to Luna in court, Luna flies off, forgets where her room is, and ends up reading her sister’s journal. What comes next isn’t altogether surprising, but it is nevertheless heartfelt and emotional without being manipulative or cheesy. I think the word I’m looking for is “genuine”. And then — of course — Celestia walks in and catches Luna in the act. But her reaction is so incredibly... I can’t explain it any other way than to say completely Celestia, and it really helped sell the ending of the story. This is an author who understands these characters.
Recommended
Radio Ga Ga by Pagemaster
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: Meta
I seem to recall having read this once before. Like then, I found it touching in a strange way. I mean, it’s about the ponies knowing that we watch them, something that would be enough to turn many people off of it. But really, if you normally wouldn’t read a story about that, don’t give up so quickly. (This is just a vignette, hardly a waste of your time. Actually, if there’s anything about this that might turn people off, it’s a few fairly obvious typos near the front.) Honestly though, you could do far worse than to spend a few minutes reading this.
Recommended If You Don’t Mind
In Their Highnesses’ Clandestine Corps by AugieDog
Genre: Bond-Style Thriller
This isn’t really a true Bond crossover, if only because all the cool spy gear gets left behind, but it starts off with Blueblood as an agent in the Equestrian version of MI6 and spirals out of control from there. Probably the best thing about this story is the way Prince Blueblood is used: he’s still pompous, conceited, and a tad whiny, but that doesn’t stop him from being a Double-O superagent. It really works in that what we saw of him in The Best Night Ever is just one facet of his personality, and not so much that he loses it in private but that he holds back on the more positive aspects of his personality when out in public. There’s plenty of action in this, a really awesome villain plot, and… crack shipping. This is a crackship story, believe it or not: Rainbow Dash x Blueblood, apparently written on some kind of dare, and the shipping is… shaky. I gave him a ‘you tried’. It certainly isn’t unbelievable, but I realized by the end that the part of me wishing the story was longer wasn’t just being greedy. For what it is, though, this is a thrilling and hilarious read, and I have no regrets for having read it. Also AugieDog is one of the best writers in the fandom and his name should be up on your “best authors” lists, with Skywriter, Cold in Gardez, The Descendant and DuncanR, if it isn’t already.
Recommended
Storm by kits
Genre: Emotion piece
City-destroying storms have become more frequent a part of life in the United States. If you’ve lived through one of those, you might not actually want to read this story, because the fact that its author has is painful to behold. Storm was inspired by the Huntsville, Alabama tornados some years ago, and kits has packed this story full of the anguish, uncertainty, and utter helplessness that people in that area, or any similar area, felt during and after the storms. Even in a place like Equestria, where the inhabitants can and do control the weather, something so powerful and overwhelming takes a harsh toll. This story earns its sad tag without being manipulative, letting the characters and their actions speak for themselves. We get to see various scenes during and after the storm, dealing with cleanup and rescue, and just outright coping with what’s happened. Pinkie makes sure it ends on a happy note, at least. And despite being a clear season 1 fic, there’s no “showing its age” issue (despite one mention of “Bright Eyes”; I mean, when’s the last time you heard that name?). It’s a timeless piece that resounds with the reader and should be read by everyone. Storm will make you feel things.
Highly Recommended
Ditzy Doo and the Blustery Day by uSea
Genre: Children’s story
I’ve had cause to expound on this before: writing for children is hard. That uSea pulled this story off so easily makes it all the more impressive. It is just about perfect, and the illustrations make it only moreso. It’s the kind of story I would take to Hasbro for publication without shame (though I’m sure the estate of A. A. Milne could sue, so let's not actually do that). That said, in reading this I realized that I’ve never actually read a Winnie the Pooh book, and I started to wonder just how much this story qualifies as “ponified Pooh”. There were numerous references that I recognized, after all. But then, even if it weren’t, DerpyDitzy Doo and Pinkie make a wonderful Pooh and Tigger, respectively, with Carrot Top as Rabbit and… I have no idea who Applejack is. But really, this was adorable, and uSea captures the feeling of WtP perfectly. (It’s also a great way to relax after the harrowing emotional tumult of Storm.)
Recommended
Bad News Apple by Gabriel LaVedier
Genre: Vignette
I think I’m done with stories that center around Granny Smith, or any of the Apple clan, being old-fashioned, racist, etc. Finding out what brought the titular Bad Apple out to Appleloosa just left a sour taste in my mouth, albeit for multiple reasons. With that said, this piece does at least have some decent characterization going for it. Regardless of whether you agree with the portrayal, this does paint a really clear picture in a short time frame of life on the frontier, not to mention a few other minor world-buildy deals. Big YMMV on this one.
Vaguely Recommended
Twilight’s Best Friend by Blueshift
Genre: Dark Comedy
Despite having neither of those tags, that’s what this is. And honestly, going into it, I had expected things to go a lot darker than they do, but Blueshift stuck to a tone not far outside that of the show, which is commendable. The inception of this story (making fun of blind bag repaints) is something I can get behind and find amusing, and Twilight’s growing exasperation as Dewdrop Dazzle slowly takes over her life is likewise amusing. If there’s a downside to this story, it’s in the characterization: Twilight is more purposefully, hilariously mean to Spike than she tends to be in the show, and those who demand a nurturing relationship between the two may be put off by it somewhat. But I am not one of those people, so I enjoyed this like the awful individual that I am. :V
Recommended
Where Earth and Sky Meet by JujubeLand
Mature
Genre: Erotic Romance
SoarinJack is a personal favorite of mine when it comes to ships. Much like the (sadly outdated now, I think) headcanon that Octavia is Pinkie’s sister Inkie, I just love the idea that characters can have deep relationships spurred on by the merest coincidences. In this case, Soarin’s love of pie makes AJ a perfect match for him (not Pinkie because they never met at the Gala). Given that that’s really all we know about him, it’s honestly not too far-fetched. So what about this story? Well, it starts off with a cloptease, moves into a really touching flight scene, and then gets right on down to the fucking. I didn’t much care for that part myself (what, you think I read these things for horse sex or something? Give me a break!), not to mention it’s broken up by a long, heartfelt declaration of love from Soarin. It’s like, geez, one thing at a time here, don’t ruin the moment. Also, this is full of LUS, so there’s that.
Vaguely Recommended
Hypothesis of Collusion by Noble Cause
Genre: Slice of Life/Shipping
Despite the romance tag, the TwiPie came outta nowhere in this one. This starts off with (minor spoilers) a full-cast ship already in play, so being able to accept that is necessary to enjoying the story. I enjoyed this quite a bit, though. Noble captures the sensation of being sick and bedridden when you’re used to doing everything all the time, and it fits into his usual style of light, heartwarming tales. Sticklers for punctuation may be put off by the dialogue formatting though, just sayin’, and the mystery didn't feel very focal or mysterious to the story. I liked it regardless.
Recommended If You Don’t Mind Preexisting Ships
There's this story called Pinkie Pie's Balloons that was designed to be a children's book, and I really love it. I'll have to check out the Ditzy Doo story to see how it compares.
[youtube=npRnnh3GS30]
I find your lack of hate disturbing.
eeeee, I got a good review of Hypothesis!
This should be 'where earth and sky meet'
Where earth meets sky is actually an excellent Apple-shy story by Cloudy Skies.
1306592
Yeah, I reviewed that not long ago. :V I dare say this one's better.
1306660
Right now, almost everything I'm reading is by people I follow. I went through their galleries and to-read everything, so more than likely it's gonna be stuff I like. It'll take a while before I start into the "I read a fic by this person, maybe their other stuff is good" and "oh look, featured box" selections that will doubtless cause more angst.
1307075
Yaknow, I saw the url when I pasted it and went, "Huh, he must have changed the name of the story." I don't know how I didn't realize that was the title. c.c
After reading this story, BlueDash is my OTP. I want to read more about those two, and will gladly trade any dozen shipping stories based on characters that either have no canon personalities (e.g. TaviScratch), have incredibly creepy implications (e.g. TwiLestia), or which presuppose that friendship is a natural gateway to lesbianism (e.g. anything between any of the main six) for another of these.
Also, everything else about this story is also incredible. Let me put it this way: when I load a fanfic onto my e-reader, I usually delete it after I've read it. There are exactly six stories I've enjoyed enough to keep them saved there, and this is one of them.
1306602
I remember reading this story or yours a long time ago, on Equestria Daily in the days before I started using this site. It was impressive then and it still is now. I never knew it was your work until recently, so congratulations. You're alright.
1307347
I can see why you'd think that, since Pinkie Pie's Balloons is pretty repetitive. Then again, I can see some fans of A.A. Milne getting annoyed at Ditzy's Blustery Day being a "ripoff" of the source material. I don't agree with that assessment, so Ditzy wins. But I can see them both being good for children and there's room for both of them.
1307922
YOUR OPINIONS ON SHIPPING ARE HIGHLY SUSPECT CHRIS :|
Also Augie just told me he's writing a sequel. I'm rather excited. :D
1307922
1308540
I can see:
The ad copy now--"Shipping stories for folks who don't care for shipping stories."
Now, if you're interested in seeing where my experiments in clopfic writing have taken me, I've so far posted 86,000 words of Applejack/Futashy...
Thanks for the kind words!
Mike
1308540
IF LIKING THAT SHIP IS WRONG I DON'T WANT TO BE RIGHT
I don't even care much for shipping, but BlueDash just... it just makes so much sense! If they ever met, I could totally see them going from dueling egos to infatuation... also, I hate you for making me defend the romantic compatibility of fictional equines
And although my usual reaction to the announcement of a sequel (not including planned trilogies/quadrilogies/etc) is to morosely prepare for disappointment, I'll give Augie the benefit of the doubt here because seriously, I love this story.
1309408
Hear that? I'm being optimistic! I think I'll pass on Futashy, though--although I don't consider myself a prude, clop is still a bridge too far for me, as a genre.
1309596
Completely understandable:
There are times when I'm almost convinced that my drive to experiment with various writerly bits and pieces courtesy of these Little Ponies has driven me a step or two too far. But then I read Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic for the first time and realize that his lovely and ironic narrative voice would work quite well telling a story about Rarity reluctantly becoming a jewel thief--
And there I am, reaching for my notebook. So apparently I haven't gone nearly far enough yet.
Mike Again
1309596
CHRISTOPHER I WILL TURN YOU INTO A SHIPPER YET
1309408
Thanks for paying me a little attention. :D